Well, Virgin Fest is back for another summer.  What with Pimlico’s financial issues, there was deliberation as to whether the Preakness would actually happen, let alone another summer music fest.  However, Virgin have moved the Festival to Merriweather Post Pavilion, and renamed the Festival to “Virgin Mobile Free Fest.”  Yep, tickets this year are free!  You’ll still need to order them in advance, though (UPDATE:  tickets can be gotten via Ticketmaster starting at 10 a.m. EST on Saturday, June 27.  Free, except for those irritating “convenience” charges.).

The lineup for VF is, as usual, impressive (at least to this old fogie).  Headliners Weezer and Blink 182 will be accompanied by Franz Ferdinand, Girl Talk, Jet, Mates of State, Public Enemy, Taking Back Sunday, The Bravery, The Hold Steady, The National, St. Vincent, and Wale.  A Dance Tent will house the likes of Danny Howells, Holy F*ck (uh, that URL is NSFW), Lee Burridge, and Pete Tong.  Gates will open at 11 AM, and the show will last until 10 PM.

Tickets, as I mentioned, are Free.  They don’t seem to be yet available on Ticketmaster, but we’ll keep you posted on the “sale” date.  The Fest is encouraging attendees to donate at least $5 to The RE*Generation to help stem youth homelessness.  You can text “FREEFEST” to “20222” for a one-time $5 text charge,  or go old-school and donate online.

Get on out there and have fun, you crazy kids!